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Keeping it personal

Novo Super’s Paul May discusses how his business partner and he created an accessible administration service with a personal touch. Miranda Brownlee reports

After spending a significant number of years crafting his SMSF service skills and knowledge at the larger institutions, Paul May made the decision in early 2014 to join the business of an old colleague, Tony Pedro.

After joining forces, the two set out to create an administration business offering clients plenty of accessibility in terms of solutions to technical SMSF issues, and a more direct relationship.

Both business partners wanted to avoid a total focus on cost/income ratios, which they believe drives the service propositions of institutions and larger administrators, and eliminate any conflict of interest. Independence is something they have also taken into consideration in the process of becoming licensed under the new licensing regime for accountants. As a result, they have chosen to become authorised under an independent operator rather than an institutionally owned or aligned dealer group.

From the outset, Mr May said that both he and Mr Pedro had similar views on how they wanted their interactions with clients to be, and the sort of service they wanted to offer. “We want to be able to spend extra time to help people with their problems”, said Mr May. “We, aren’t afraid of bringing other people into the discussion.”

Mr May said the firm has built up a strong network of experts that it is able to draw upon to get the right solution for a client. “We tend to have a direct relationship with the adviser or the trustee. We find that accessibility and offering [a service] beyond a stock-standard solution is what people want,” he says.

To read the entire article that featured in SMSF Adviser magazine on Thursday, 16 June 2016 please follow the link: www.smsfadviser.com/latest-issue/feature-articles/13978-keeping-it-personal